So, my sis Aisling returned from the Land of Erin yesterday. Apparently, everything in Ireland is better than it is here. Not bigger, or faster, or more convinient. Just better.

There are no SUV's. Or trucks. Or vans. Or "mini" vans. There are no billboards every dozen yards telling you to buy something awful. There are no marketing departments expending thousands of hours to come up with ever more clever ways to sell you awful things.

People there are not trained from birth to believe that everyone else in the world will rob them. People there trust you, and it is perfectly safe to trust them. People there do not feel a sense of entitlement to everything they've ever thought they wanted.

Meals there are comprised of good, real food. The idea of "fast food" is an insult. There is one McMeaty's Tasty Burger Joint in Dublin, and no where else. Waiters at restaraunts do not insult you by asking every ten minutes if you need something, and they expect you to take your time dining with them.

It is a similar lifestyle, but a completely different philosophy on how to live it. There is no eat then rush to your 9-5 then rush home then eat then fuck then sleep then wake up and do it all again for fourty years.

America may be industrious, but it's at the expense of, and not for the sake of, life. We've got it completely backwards.